The Pridelands: Kingdom at War
by CacoethesScribendi17
Summary: Throughout the ages, the Pridelands have seen their enemies. Scar the Tyrant, Zira the Avenger and their fall. But long ago, there was a different enemy. One we know much better. The only thing that stands in the way of this enemy are the puny forces of King Mohatu. Meanwhile, Uru has fallen in love with a commoner; a warrior. Can Mohatu stop the tide? Is Uru's love doomed?


**Hello, everyone. I am writing this story in collaboration with JJZ-109 (We're doing it together) and it is a prequel to the acclaimed Modern Human Version Series. We are covering a rather dark period of history, so a warning to any readers who may be offended. The entire WW2 history of the Pridelands, and any interactions the TLK characters may have with real historical figures, are entirely fictional.**

**JJZ-109: How's it going guys. I promised this story a while ago, I know. And now here it is, with a lot of help from a friend. Remember the WW2 events mentioned in Rise of HYENA that inspired Kovu? Here's the full story. How Mohatu slugged it out with Hitler, and how Ahadi fell in love with a Princess. As CacoethesScribendi17** **mentioned, this has potential to be offensive, so be warned. And I acknowledge that Germany would never have been able to open up a third front, but its good story material hey? Hope ya enjoy. Cheers: JJZ-109**

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_Outlands Royal Airfield, Kingdom of the Pridelands_

_September 19th, 1941._

_Time: 0848 hours._

The sun cowered behind the cold mist of a North Pridelander morning. Its light and warmth consumed by the cold and darkness. The cold and darkness of war. The mist was at its thickest right above the damp grass of the airfield, where dark blue uniformed men solemnly walked through the cold, towards their next task, whether it be the dirty, grimy job of working on an engine, the proud glorious one of lining up to greet their beloved leader the King, or the quiet, sad and traumatized walk back to the Airmen's barracks.

The grand double doors to the Air base command center slowly opened, and several men (or the odd woman) quickly vacated the scene or proudly snapped into the attention position. Ten royal guards then marched out, five standing single file on each side of the door, to formally snap around and bring their Lee Enfield .303 service rifles to bear. A few months ago, they would have carried ceremonial muskets, but now things had changed dramatically. It was no longer about looks. Their Royal uniforms had also been modified to accommodate for the circumstances, and even the people who wore them. Pompous Pridelander patriots were dumped, in favor of actual soldiers. Mohatu hadn't needed their skills yet, but he knew that it was a wise decision to use them nonetheless.

King Mohatu proudly strode out of the command center; holding the delicate gloved hand of his daughter, Uru. He kept his chin up and expression strong, despite how mentally stressed and emotionally depleted he really was. The country mustn't see him in that state. He wore his usual white King's uniform, with a blue and green trim (National colors) and red royal slash, topped off with the hat with the royal emblem on it. His daughter, the 18 year old Princess Uru wore a long expensive navy blue dress, an elegant white hat with a ribbon and rose attached, as well as thin white gloves. She was dressed like the proper lady she was. Or meant to be.

Princess Uru looked out onto the misty airfield, at the sandbag air raid shelters, the workers and pilots and the rows of dormant fighter planes that just sat there, like beasts that would be awakened at any given touch. A man in a high-ranking Pridelander Royal Air Force uniform strode forward quickly to greet them. He held a small cane under his arm.

"Ah, your majesty..." The man greeted King Mohatu and gave a sharp salute, which the King returned.

"My lady..." The General continued and kissed Uru's hand. Uru smiled instinctively at the man, but then something caught her sight, and made her heart skip a beat.

Just as the man released her hand, her gaze wandered across the area behind him, scanning across all the planes and people. But one man caught her eye. He sat upon the wing of his aircraft, drawing something onto the side of it. She completely zoned out of the conversation her father was having, and completely locked onto him. She had seen him before. His slick black hair neatly combed back, his thin pencil line mustache and the brown leather jacket topped off with the scarf.

"I trust that air command has judged this area safe from hostile advancement?" Mohatu asked his General.

"Of course, sire."

"Very well." Mohatu said and started to proceed forward, to inspect the air base.

Uru took one last look at them, before slowly walking away, towards the airfield. Her sidetracked father would never know, and besides, what harm could it do?

"Excuse me." She politely pushed her way past the royal guards.

She then elegantly made her way over to the man she saw previously. He still knelt on the wing of the plane, but had finished painting and was looking up at the dull grey sky. Sensing Uru's presence, he turned his head around to see her. When he made eye contact, his stomach dropped. He frantically fixed up his hair, straightened his jacket and made himself slightly presentable before jumping down to the ground skillfully. Uru giggled at him a little.

He approached her and dropped to one knee instantly, before kissing her hand in the same manner as the general, except with a bit more sincerity.

"My lady...what brings you out here?" The pilot asked.

"My father came to inspect the airfield. It is all the more important now that you pilots are our first line of defense. I trust you are doing a fine job at keeping our country safe?" Uru smiled a little flirtatiously.

"I do every thing I can, my lady."

"And it would seem that you have done quite a lot..." Uru gestured to all the painted on Swastikas on the side of his plane. One emblem to mark each kill.

"Well you know, you have to keep track..." The pilot stammered, going a little red. Uru giggled a little.

"I suppose you are good at what you do then." Uru smiled again. The man returned the warm smile and gave a little shrug.

He then proceeded to look over his aircraft another time. The mighty Supermarine Spitfire sat there peacefully, canopy open and chocked. The wings were painted with blue and green roundels, with a white star inside to mark it as a Pridelander aircraft one of the few.

"Pilot...what is your name?" Uru ventured, and the man bit his lip. That had caught him off guard.

"Taylor. Captain Taylor." The man informed her.

"And I guess I already know yours." Cpt. Taylor laughed.

There was another long pause between them, and Uru blushed a little. She moved a little closer to him, and looked back over her shoulder to see her father making his way back to the command center. She was about seconds away from asking his first name, before the sound broke out.

The sound that leaked fear onto even the hardest of hearts. The sound that flicked a mental switch in every man's mind. Like the sound of several foul ghouls screaming out and haunting the night, the air raid siren slowly started to wail...

DDDDRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNN!

The smile on both the pilot and Uru's faces instantly faded. Uru briefly turned away to see every single man start sprinting towards either a plane or shelter. The pilot looked like he wanted to say something, but could only shake his head and gesture back to the plane.

"I'm sorry..." He finally managed to say above the sudden chaos before turning back to his plane. Uru grabbed him by the arm and stopped him.

"Here, take this." She said loudly and stripped off her golden necklace, the one with the golden image of a lion's head.

"For luck." She said with a smile, and with that, the pilot ran back to his plane and hauled himself back onto the wing and eventually into the cockpit.

"Will I ever see you again?" Uru yelled out as she was ushered back to her father by the royal guard.

"Can't guarantee it!" The pilot yelled back.

He then proceeded to tie the golden necklace around the joystick of his plane. He already had Uru's picture on his instrument panel. He then quickly buckled himself in and put on his flight goggles.

"CRANK IT!" He screamed out to one of his mechanics, and suddenly, the engine roared to life.

The idle propellor suddenly twitched and turned into a blur as it reached full speed. Cpt. Taylor shut his canopy as the Spitfire slowly started to bounce forward along the grass.

"CHOCKS AWAY!" Shouted a mechanic.

Captain A. Taylor guided the elegant fighter along the grass and onto a runway. No more games now...He thought as he pulled the throttle back, and felt the plane start to speed up as it rolled along the grass runway. The jolts and bumps sent shockwaves up his spine as he went. That's fast enough...He pulled back on the joystick.

As expected, the Spitfire's nose lifted, and the plane gracefully ascended from the earth. The pilot felt the usual yet still strange sense of blissful freedom and weightlessness as the plane's wheels lifted off. He quickly snapped out of it though, as the plane reached its appropriate altitude. The view then came. The faint shadow of Prideland City in the distance, accompanied with scars of warfare in the other direction. The sea to his left. The undeveloped savannah to his right.

He quickly guided the fighter into formation with the rest of his squad 'The Flying Sabers'. The best of the best. His radio crackled to life.

"Blue 2 checking in."

"Blue 5 checking in."

"Blue 3 Checking in."

"Blue 4 checking in."

"Blue leader checking in." The pilot confirmed on the radio and slowly started guiding the diamond formation to the left, where the sea was. Where the threat normally came from.

Slowly, he made out the faint shadows on the horizon of his dreaded enemies. Like wasps hovering across in front of him, the enemy aircraft seemed to invite them. He gunned the fighter towards them and spoke into the radio:

"We got bombers, twelve high."

"Copy that Blue leader, moving into position now."

It didn't take them long to cover the several miles separating them at the speed at which they moved. The loud whine of the Spitfire's engine then started to drown out of the pilot's focus. Doing an elegant upside down loop, he swooped in on the enemy bomber. A Heinkel He-111. Something that would flatten his country's capital if he let it. But he would never.

He made out the two distinctive black crosses on the wings. Lining up the crosshairs before him, he let loose on the Nazi bomber.

"HAMMER DOWN!"

RATATATATATATATANG!

His cannons lit up like firecrackers as he blasted shot after shot at the He-111. Bullet after the bullet struck the fuselage, and eventually, after a small explosion, the plane caught fire and started to plummet.

"WOOHOO! ONE DOWN!" Cpt. Taylor yelled out as he soared through the grey sky like a demon loose from hell.

"Great shot sir!"

Cpt. Taylor started to bank the Spitfire around for another attack on the German bomber formation, but a frantic radio call interrupted him.

"Whoa! We got MEs, closing fast!" That was the news he least wanted to hear. A plane that struck fear into the hearts of even the greatest Pridelander aces.

The Messerschmitt 109. The fighter of Nazi Germany, which was equal to the Spitfire in most regards, and in some, maybe better. The deadliest thing that could ever fly into Pridelander skies.

He saw the distinctive yellow and grey ME-109 bank around, trying to protect its bombers from Cpt. Taylor's squadron, firing shots all over the place. Not on my watch. He thought and buzzed in behind the 109. This was a fighter he had only ever beaten once. And he was about to do it again. Claiming an Me-109 kill was no easily accomplished feat, with very few Pridelander pilots claiming to have done so. Most of Cpt. Taylor's kills were against bombers or dive-bombers. Fighters were a completely different cup of tea.

"I'm on his ass now..."

The German fighter bounced in and out of his crosshairs as it tried to lose him. But Cpt. Taylor was too good for that, and far too relentless and unforgiving. That was one thing about Captain Ahadi Taylor. He never stopped until his enemy was down in flames. Target fixation.

Finally he managed to steady. RATATATATATATATANG! The bullets smashed into the cockpit of the 109 and soon the plane was spiraling down towards the seas as well. Ahadi cheered in joy and yelled into the radio.

"NAILED THE SON OF A BITCH! You boys see that?" He said and took another look at the dogfight ensuing. It looked like an angry swarm of bees whizzing every which direction.

"Sir, get out of there! You got fighters all over your tail!" Ahadi raised an eyebrow. What, how?

Ahadi slowly peered over his shoulder to get a glimpse of the sky behind him. Two Me-109s had appeared behind him, and chased relentlessly. Oh no...How could he let that happen? It was simple: a trap.

"Get 'em off me!" Ahadi cried out, jerking the Spitfire every which way trying to avoid the hailstorm of German bullets.

"I CAN'T SHAKE 'EM!" He screamed out, but his squad was too far away for them to help now. He was on his own.

THUD, THUD, THUD! Bullets smashed into the fuselage, and he felt one fly right between his legs as it burst through the metal, and into the instrument panel below him. Sparks flew everywhere at his feet, and soon, a small fire started right at his feet. Ahadi's heart pounded on his chest as he desperately tried to kick it out, but it was no use. It was spreading quickly, and it was about to burn him alive in a second.

He had lost. He yanked back on the canopy, hoping to eject, but it wouldn't budge. He was trapped. The battered Spitfire started to descend towards the sea, and the German fighters started to peel off, thinking the kill had been achieved.

"AH, I GOT A FIRE! THE CANOPY'S STUCK!" There was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone could do. He was going down.

"I'M GOING DOWN, IM GOING DOWN!" He screamed frantically into the radio as the plane started to dive towards the ocean.

As the sea neared, he made out Uru's picture on the instrument panel. Would she ever see him again? No. But he had to at least try something.

He picked up Uru's necklace and clutched it tightly in his fist. He muttered a quick prayer under his breath as the Spitfire soared down, leaving trails of smoke in its wake. His words and even his very thoughts were drowned out by the whine of the plane's engine, and the distant sound of machine gun fire.

This is it...Ahadi thought as the ocean raced closer and closer.

Soon it was right there. Ahadi shut his eyes and flinched for the impact.

SMASH! There was a sharp pain in his head and spine for a moment as the plane flew its last, and he blacked out. Water started to pour into the cockpit...and he felt a strange sense of peace as he knew he had crashed, and the icy water silenced the chaotic sounds.

He then felt completely weightless, as he felt himself fade...


End file.
